Supporting an entrepreneur changes the whole family, especially when you are building a kids enrichment business.

In this episode:

- Ryan shares what surprised him most about the amount of work behind an enrichment business

- Why instructor turnover and the work outside of classes were bigger than he expected.

- What supporting Arielle looked like when the business became her full-time focus.

- How marriage, family, financial pressure, and entrepreneurship intersect.

- Why Ryan's grounded approach balances Arielle's big-picture vision.

Start or grow your kids enrichment business with Arielle: https://ariellehammond.com 

Run your registrations on enrops, free for businesses: https://getenrops.com 

Join the community of enrichment entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/enrichmententrepreneur

0:00 Why the spouse's perspective matters

1:31 Ryan's journey into the enrichment business

12:06 What surprised him about the enrichment industry

18:17 The hidden work behind running an enrichment business

24:29 What it takes to support an entrepreneur

36:06 Building a marriage, family, and business together

Guest bio

Ryan Hammond is a Coast Guard veteran and database developer who has spent the past several years helping build Journey to STEAM alongside his wife, Arielle. As both a business partner and spouse, he offers a behind-the-scenes perspective on entrepreneurship, family life, and the sacrifices that come with building an enrichment business. 

Journey to STEAM: https://www.journeytosteam.com/

How to pay enrichment instructors becomes a much bigger challenge once your business starts to grow.

In this episode:

- Why instructor payroll became a weekly headache

- The hidden costs of manual payroll systems

- What happened when we tried retention bonuses and incentives

- Why higher pay didn't improve retention

- The surprising thing that helped instructors stay longer

Start or grow your kids enrichment business with Arielle: https://ariellehammond.com

Run your registrations on enrops, free for businesses: https://getenrops.com

Join the community of enrichment entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/enrichmententrepreneur

Timestamps

00:00 Why payroll becomes a weekly nightmare as you grow

02:23 Manual payroll, pay stubs, and costly mistakes

08:28 The payroll system that created more work, not less

14:39 Building a payroll process that actually works

16:20 Why bonuses and incentives didn't improve retention

Building an after-school program business is easier when you learn from someone who has already spent 14 years figuring it out.

Spencer Rubin, founder of Play.Fit.Fun, shares how he landed school partnerships, balanced a full-time career while growing his program, and expanded from a handful of sites to serving 30 schools.

In this episode:

- How Play.Fit.Fun started almost by accident •

- Landing the first school partnerships without a sales process

- What Spencer learned from running a full-time job and a growing program at the same time

- The Year One mistake that changed how he works with kids

- Why Play.Fit.Fun expanded beyond traditional after-school programs

Start or grow your kids enrichment business with Arielle: https://ariellehammond.com

Run your registrations on enrops, free for businesses: https://getenrops.com

Join the community of enrichment entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/enrichmententrepreneur

Timestamps0:00 From side project to after school program business

3:22 Landing the first school partnerships and getting early traction

7:50 Balancing a full-time career while growing a program

17:00 The Year One mistake that changed Spencer's coaching approach

27:55 Growing beyond after-school programs and creating new revenue opportunities

Guest bio

Spencer Rubin is the founder and CEO of Play.Fit.Fun, a physical enrichment program operating across 30 school sites in Oregon. He spent nearly three decades in broadcast radio before a single conversation with a PE teacher changed everything. What started as a one-man side hustle in 2013 grew into a full-time operation running after-school programs, summer camps, field days, and team building events for kids across the Portland metro area. Spencer's mission has stayed the same since day one... get kids moving physically, mentally, and socially, one school at a time. 

Website: playfitfun.com

Instagram: @play.fit.fun

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-rubin-73a7906/

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@Playfitfunpdx

Choosing the right registration software for your after-school program can save hours of admin work, reduce family friction, and help you scale with confidence.

In this episode:

- The strengths and weaknesses of 10 popular registration platforms

- Which tools work best for mobile enrichment businesses versus fixed locations

- The hidden fees and limitations most operators discover too late

- How to evaluate registration software based on your business model

- What I would choose at different stages of growth

Start or grow your kids enrichment business with Arielle: https://ariellehammond.com

Run your registrations on enrops, free for businesses: https://getenrops.com

Join the community of enrichment entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/enrichmententrepreneur

Timestamps

00:00 Choosing Registration Software for Your Business

13:22 When Studio Management Platforms Make Sense

28:31 The Real Cost of Registration Tools and Hidden Tradeoffs

34:33 Finding the Right Fit for Multi-Site Operators

45:22 A Simple Framework for Choosing Your Platform

How to hire instructors for kids enrichment is about more than finding someone who can teach. Jessica Vorster and Arielle Hammond talk through what makes an instructor successful, how to support them, and what owners need to watch for as programs grow.

In this episode:

- What makes a successful instructor in an enrichment program

- Why classroom observation matters for program quality and instructor support

- What to look for when hiring your first instructors

- How to use data to make better enrollment and program decisions

- Why some customer conversations still need a human touch

Start or grow your kids enrichment business with Arielle: https://ariellehammond.com

Run your registrations on enrops, free for businesses: https://getenrops.com

Join the community of enrichment entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/enrichmententrepreneur

Timestamps

0:00 Meet Jessica Vorster and the realities of managing enrichment programs

7:33 Build stronger instructors with the right support and training

14:09 Hire people who can handle the responsibility of your reputation

22:04 Use enrollment data to make better program decisions

30:11 Manage the moving parts behind programs and substitutions

Kids enrichment businesses can feel isolating. After talking with 10 enrichment entrepreneurs, I started seeing the patterns we are all dealing with. 

In this episode:

- What I learned about marketing, scaling, staffing, and community from 10 operators

- Why hitting a growth ceiling can be a reason to rethink the offer

- The 97% customer loss I found after analyzing canceled programs

- What intentional training can do for instructor retention

- Why enrichment entrepreneurs need a place to compare notes and learn from each other

Start or grow your kids enrichment business with Arielle: https://ariellehammond.com 

Run your registrations on enrops, free for businesses: https://getenrops.com 

Join the community of enrichment entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/enrichmententrepreneur

Timestamps

00:00 What 10 enrichment entrepreneurs taught me

08:47 What to do when your business hits a growth ceiling

13:36 Serving customers at different levels of commitment

18:54 The reputation cost of canceling programs

44:03 The biggest takeaways from the first ten conversations

An after-school program business grows when the right schools and communities are ready for the program.

In this episode:

- How to recognize product-market fit in a kids enrichment business

- Why the source of a school referral can affect program success

- How school and PTA support can influence enrollment

- What canceled programs can teach you about sustainable growth

- How curriculum and training systems support growth across multiple sites

Start or grow your kids enrichment business with Arielle: https://ariellehammond.com 

Run your registrations on enrops, free for businesses: https://getenrops.com 

Join the community of enrichment entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/enrichmententrepreneur

Timestamps

0:00 How Jeff turned his music career into an enrichment business

03:18 Finding product-market fit and building a program schools actively want

06:09 Why the source of a referral matters more than most operators realize

10:44 The hidden cost of canceled programs and losing customers permanently

25:47 Building curriculum, training, and systems that support growth across multiple sites

Guest bio

Jeff Kerestes is the founder and CEO of The Ukulele Project, a music enrichment program serving schools across Portland and Vancouver. A professional musician by trade, Jeff built The Ukulele Project around a simple idea: music should be accessible, engaging, and fun. Through a game-based curriculum and a strong focus on confidence, creativity, and community, his programs help students develop musical skills while building a lifelong connection to music. 

Website: https://theukuleleproject.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-kerestes-7241156b/

Enrichment business systems can make or break your ability to scale. Arielle shares five moments when the systems behind her business broke down, what those problems cost her, and the long-term solutions she built.

In this episode:

- Why scheduling programs turned into a 20-column spreadsheet

- How proactive parent communication helps families see the value of your programs

- Why tracking enrollment numbers manually became expensive

- What happened when curriculum, training, and payments had to be handled across multiple tools

- Why Arielle eventually realized she was using more than eight different platforms to hold the business together

Start or grow your kids enrichment business with Arielle: https://ariellehammond.com 

Run your registrations on enrops, free for businesses: https://getenrops.com 

Join the community of enrichment entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/enrichmententrepreneur

Timestamps

0:00 Five moments when I seriously considered walking away from the business

1:00 The day a simple schedule turned into a spreadsheet with 20 columns

11:15 Why families shouldn't have to guess the value of your programs

18:45 The hidden cost of manually tracking enrollment across dozens of sites

26:00 The moment I realized the business had outgrown my systems

36:15 Why payroll and contractor management became my biggest operational headache 

Cash flow for kids enrichment businesses can get tight when you are paying instructors before program revenue comes in. Jeannette Sermak-Proulx shares what she has learned from running Plaza Production One Mobile Dance Studio for decades, including how she manages partnerships, hiring, and recurring revenue.

In this episode:

- Why picking up the phone can help you win school partnerships

- How branded cookies help you stand out with school leaders

- Why Jeannette built a mobile dance studio model

- How to build a kids enrichment business that lasts

Start or grow your kids enrichment business with Arielle: https://ariellehammond.com 

Run your registrations on enrops, free for businesses: https://getenrops.com 

Join the community of enrichment entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/enrichmententrepreneur

Timestamps

0:00 From dancer to decades-long enrichment entrepreneur

7:00 The phone call strategy for school partnerships

15:21 Why the mobile model works

26:49 Hiring high-quality instructors

33:16 Building more consistent cash flow 

Guest bio

Jeannette Sermak-Proulx is the Founder and CEO of Plaza Production One Mobile Dance Studio. For decades, she has helped bring dance education directly to schools and communities through a mobile model designed to make the arts more accessible for children and families. Her work combines a passion for dance, relationship-centered leadership, and a commitment to creating meaningful opportunities for young people through enrichment programs. 

Plaza Production One Mobile Dance Studio: plazaproductionone.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeannette-sermak-proulx-12484819/

Program pricing can make or break the sustainability of your kids enrichment business.

In this episode:

• How to calculate your true cost per student per session

• Why your own pay belongs in your pricing calculation

• How to find the highest price your market will bear

• What to do when your costs are too high for the market

• How peer data can strengthen your next partner rate negotiation

Start or grow your kids enrichment business with Arielle: https://ariellehammond.com 

Run your registrations on enrops, free for businesses: https://getenrops.com 

Join the community of enrichment entrepreneurs: https://www.facebook.com/groups/enrichmententrepreneur

00:00 Why Enrichment Entrepreneurs Struggle With Pricing

04:45 The Hidden Costs Most Operators Leave Out

17:50 The Pricing Formula: Cost, Margin, and Market

27:08 The Partner Pricing Problem Nobody Talks About

43:13 Using Data Instead of Guesswork to Set Your Rates